Allentown - At the direction of the PJM Interconnection board of managers, PPL Electric Utilities will build a portion of a new 500,000-volt transmission line that has been identified as essential to long-term reliability of the interconnected electric system. One of the projects approved by the PJM board Friday (6/22) will connect a PPL Electric Utilities substation near Berwick, Pa., with a substation owned by Public Service Electric & Gas Co. in Essex County, N.J.

Berwick, about 30 miles southwest of Wilkes-Barre, is just north of Interstate 80, which crosses the Delaware River at the Water Gap.  Essex County, in northeast New Jersey, includes Newark.

“Safe and reliable service is the greatest responsibility of those who own and operate the power grid,” said David E. Schleicher, vice president of Transmission Operations for PPL Electric Utilities. “This project will provide reliability benefits for our customers, people across Pennsylvania and electricity users throughout the mid-Atlantic region.”

The lessons of the major blackout that affected 50 million people in August 2003 are clear, he added. Problems that affect reliability in one part of the interconnected electric system can have consequences that are felt hundreds of miles away.

“No route has been determined for the line,” Schleicher said. “We will follow Pennsylvania’s well-established transmission line siting process, which includes extensive public input, environmental review and cost analysis.”

Approval authority for the portion of the line to be built in Pennsylvania rests with the Public Utility Commission.

PJM — an independent company that operates the power grid in a region that covers 13 mid-Atlantic and Midwestern states and the District of Columbia — conducts ongoing studies of the electricity grid and annually identifies required new transmission projects for long-term system reliability.

PJM determined that the line is needed to prevent potential overloads that could occur in the next decade on several existing transmission lines in the interconnected PJM system. Transmission lines could become overloaded because of population growth, economic development and increasing electricity use unless reinforcements are built.

PPL Electric Utilities’ preliminary estimate of the cost for its portion of the project is about $326 million. Now that the PJM board has approved the project, PPL Electric Utilities will conduct more detailed analysis to refine the estimate. Because the project benefits the interconnected grid, PJM will allocate the cost among customers across the PJM region.

PPL Electric Utilities Corporation, a subsidiary of PPL Corporation that provides electricity delivery services to about 1.4 million customers in Pennsylvania, including portions of Monroe, Pike and Wayne counties. More information is available at www.pplelectric.com.